Inscription: Signed (lower right, in watercolor): Chagall.
Herwarth Walden, Berlin (until 1922; sold in September 1922 to Thayer); Scofield Thayer, Vienna and New York (1922–d. 1982; on extended loan to the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass., as part of the Dial Collection, 1931–82; his bequest to MMA)
New York. Montross Gallery. "Original Paintings, Drawings, and Engravings Being Exhibited with the Dial Folio 'Living Art'," January 26–February 14, 1924, no catalogue (typed checklist no. 7; as "It is Written").
Rochester, N. Y. Memorial Art Gallery. "The Dial Portfolio of "Living Art"," February–March 1924, no. 72 (as "It is Written").
Worcester Art Museum. "Exhibition of the Dial Collection of Paintings, Engravings, and Drawings by Contemporary Artists," March 5–30, 1924, no. 5 (as "It Is Written").
Northampton, Mass. Hillyer Art Gallery, Smith College. "The Dial Collection," May 1924, no catalogue.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Twentieth International Exhibition of Water Colors," July 17–October 5, 1941, no. 119 (as "It Is Written," lent by Courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts).
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial and the Dial Collection," April 30–September 8, 1959, no. 14 (as "It Is Written").
Worcester Art Museum. "Selections from the Dial Collection," November 13–30, 1965, unnum. checklist (as "It Is Written").
Worcester Art Museum. "The Dial Revisited," June 29–August 22, 1971, no catalogue.
Worcester Art Museum. "'The Dial': Arts and Letters in the 1920s," March 7–May 10, 1981, no. 12 (as "It Is Written [study for 'The Pinch of Snuff']").
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Chagall," May 12–July 7, 1985, extended to July 21, 1985, no cat. no. (p. 177).
Jewish Museum, New York. "Chagall and the Bible," May 10–August 9, 1987, not in catalogue.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Chagall," October 13–November 26, 1989, no. 14 (as "La Prisée").
Kasama Nichido Museum. "Chagall," December 2, 1989–January 21, 1990, no. 14.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Chagall," January 27–March 11, 1990, no. 14.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "60 Drawings: Recent Acquisitions," October 23, 1990–January 15, 1991, no catalogue.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Marc Chagall: Die Russischen Jahre 1906–1922," June 16–September 8, 1991, no. 66 (as "Studie zu 'Die Prise'").
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Marc Chagall: Les années russes, 1907–1922," April 13–September 17, 1995, no. 70 (as "Étude pour La prisée").
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Marc Chagall 1907–1917," December 16, 1995–February 28, 1996, no. 178 (as "Etude pour: La prisée").
Jewish Museum, New York. "Marc Chagall 1907–1917," March 31–August 4, 1996, no. 178 (as "Study for The Pinch of Snuff"; listed in New York checklist insert as "A Pinch of Snuff").
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Marc Chagall 1907–1917," September 19, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 178 (as "Study for The Pinch of Snuff"; listed in Los Angeles checklist insert as "Study for 'A Pinch of Snuff'").
Melbourne. National Gallery of Victoria. "Beyond Belief: Modern Art and the Religious Imagination," April 24–July 26, 1998, unnumbered cat. (p. 63).
New York. Museum of Biblical Art. "Biblical Art in a Secular Century. Selections, 1896–1993," December 14, 2006–March 11, 2007, no catalogue.
Dial 73 (October 1922), ill. frontispiece [p. 360], calls it "On Dit".
Scofield Thayer. Living Art: Twenty Facsimile Reproductions after Paintings, Drawings and Engravings and Ten Photographs after Sculpture by Contemporary Artists. New York, 1923, paintings section, colorpl. 10, calls it "It is Written".
Thomas Craven. "Living Art." Dial 76 (February 1924), p. 183.
Henry McBride. "Modern Art." Dial 76 (February 1924), p. 208, calls it "It Is Written".
[Elisabeth Luther Cary]. "The World of Art: Modern Art of One Kind and Another." New York Times (January 27, 1924), p. SM10.
Harley Perkins. "The Dial Collection of Living Art: Paintings, Water Colors and Engravings Assembled by Scofield Thayer and Exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum." Boston Evening Transcript (March 22, 1924), p. 8.
Wyndham Lewis. "Art Chronicle." Criterion 3 (October 1924), p. 111.
Forbes Watson. "Books. Living Art." Arts 5 (January 1924), p. 57, calls it "It is Written".
R[obert]. R[attray]. T[atlock]. "Review: Living Art." Burlington Magazine 44 (March 1924), p. 154.
"Modern Art Spirit Seen in Collection." Worcester Daily Telegram (March 6, 1924), p. 4.
Louisa Dresser inThe Dial and the Dial Collection. Exh. cat., Worcester Art Museum. Worcester, Mass., 1959, p. 62, no. 14, ill.
D[aniel]. C[atton]. R[ich]. "Some Highlights of the 'Taste of the Twenties'." Worcester Art Museum News Bulletin and Calendar 24 (May 1959), unpaginated.
William Wasserstrom. The Time of the Dial. Syracuse, 1963, p. 92.
Nicholas Joost. Scofield Thayer and The Dial: An Illustrated History. Carbondale, Ill., 1964, ill. between pp. 268 and 269, calls it "It Is Written".
Franz Meyer. Marc Chagall. 2nd ed. (1st ed. German, 1961). New York, [1964], p. 747, Classifed Catalogue no. 128, ill. n. p., calls it "Study for 'The Pinch of Snuff'".
Renata Negri. "Marc Chagall." L'Arte Moderna 10, no. 86 (1967), p. 176, ill. p. 173 (color), calls it "Studio per "La presa'".
Nicholas Joost. "The Dial Collection: Tastes and Trends of the 'Twenties." Apollo 94 (December 1971), p. 493, fig. 8, calls it "It is Written".
Alfred Werner. Chagall Watercolors and Gouaches. New York, 1977, p. 34, colorpl. 7, calls it "It Is Written".
Enrico d'Anna. Tabacco storia arte. Rome, 1983, p. 228, ill. p. 241, calls it "Sta scritto (Studio per la 'presina')".
Pierre Provoyeur inMarc Chagall: Oeuvres sur papier. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne. Paris, 1984, p. 137, ill., notes that there is an oil on canvas of this subject (1912; private collection), a later version, also oil on canvas (1923–26; Kunstmuseum Basel), and a watercolor (1923–24; collection M.B. Katz, Milwaukee).
Susan Compton. Chagall. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1985, p. 177, under no. 31, notes that this subject is based on the story of the Rabbi of Chelm, who was tricked by Satan.
Roberta Smith. "Art: Chagall's Bible Illustrations, and Naïve Works by Israelis." New York Times (July 24, 1987), p. C5.
Benjamin Harshav inMarc Chagall: Les années russes, 1907–1922. Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1995, pp. 92, 267, no. 70, ill. (color), tentatively dates it 1912–15.
Henri Raczymow. "Chagall: Années russes 1907–1922. Chagall, peintre yiddish." Connaissance des arts hors série (1995), p. 38, fig. 35 (color), calls it "Etude pour La Prisée".
Rosemary Crumlin in Rosemary Crumlin. Beyond Belief: Modern Art and the Religious Imagination. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne, 1998, pp. 62–63, ill. (color).
Martha Schwendener. "Believers and Doubters, Inspired by the Word." New York Times (February 6, 2007), p. E5, ill.
Sabine Rewald inObsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2018, pp. 35, 114, fig. 51 (color).
Marc Chagall (French (born former Russian Empire, now Belarus), Vitebsk 1887–1985 Saint-Paul-de-Vence)
1917
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